study-in-the-afterglow - Tumblr blog

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not now sweetie, mommy is watching how the massive girlbossification of female characters has led to the belief that weak and vulnerable female characters are badly written characters because apparently every woman needs to be outspoken and witty and snarky and brave in order to be considered “complex” and have any value in a piece of media!!

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maybe now people will finally show long story short some fucking respect

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the manuscript ending the album on the utter jawdrop moment that neither of the muses of the actual album were the first men to fuck her up with promises of marriage and babies, and that first heartbreak so long ago laid the scene for the woman she would become and the ways she would approach love and how we all watched her life like scenes in a show but she kept coming back to the manuscript of the first torrid affair that ruined her, to bookend an album about two love affairs that destroyed her utterly in almost the exact same way, because all her muses are acquired like bruises........ it's bone-chilling

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I Look Through People’s Windows is like “please don’t ever become a stranger whose laugh I could recognize anywhere” come true

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the beauty of this album is that it really fully encapsulates what it’s like going from the devastating loss of a long term relationship, to the rebound you think is gonna fix it all, only to ultimately realize that you were using the latter to process your feelings about the former. the songs are so muddled, and the lyrics are relevant to both muses because her feelings were muddled and she had no idea where to put them or what to do with them. the rebound promised her everything she couldn’t get from the ex-love and she fell for it because she was so desperate to be really seen.

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“Old habits die screaming…”

File Name: The Black Dog 🖤

Pre-order the final new edition of THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT with exclusive bonus track “The Black Dog” on my website now

https://taylor.lnk.to/thetorturedpoetsdepartment

📷: Beth Garrabrant

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This is gonna come out sounding so mean probably, but people who don’t want us to analyze Taylor’s surprise song choices based on her current situation are boring as fuck. Her works are not inert, she is a living poet, and she recontextualizes her own work through her own music all the time! She would not be mad that we are assigning meaning to her song choices! Go jump in a ditch with the rest of the New Critics I stg

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The peace discourse is so fascinating to me and really displays how people see/hear things so differently. I really find that song sooo unsettling and heartbreaking, with the “your integrity makes me seem small” and “it’s like I’m wasting your honor” of it all. To me, it screams anxiety and insecurity and almost hopelessness.

I do think that "peace" is a proclamation of love in its own way. It is a romantic, earnest song.

But it's also a song (imo) that's rooted in expressing a deeply-held source of anxiety and insecurity to someone. The feeling of fearing never being enough. Of feeling like a burden. Of feeling inferior. And I'm not saying that she was made to feel that way (or maybe she was!) but I also think those are things she's thought and said about herself in her darkest and worst times and that's a scary thing to admit to someone out loud. But there is such a sweet and sad feeling of love in "peace" because that love is being expressed through intense vulnerability and openly giving every part of yourself (good and ugly) to someone with an open hand and saying, "This is a part of me that I'm ashamed of. But if you can love this part of me I will do everything else in my power to make you happy because that's all I want in the world and I hope that's enough for you."

To me it's actually hoping against hope and praying that someone will take these feelings from you and say, "It's okay" and there is romance in that.

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(╥﹏╥) - I was not emotionally stable enough for a sad piano version of this is me trying

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April 19 🤍 store.taylorswift.com

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jollibe today

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[i've never doubted that palestine will live.

the US dropped more than 7.5 million tons of bombs on vietnam, laos and cambodia from 1965-75. they destroyed our land, used agent orange, slaughtered villages, separated families, the list goes on.

but we're. still. here.

indigenous people are still here. black people are still here. colonized people are resilient. even if you kill our people, ban our languages, destroy our homes, heritage sites and artifacts, we will always find a way to keep our cultures alive and that has always been true

so much of the west and isntreal's tactics and actions are hauntingly familiar to me as a viet person. its a colonizer's rinse and repeat. and so that's how i know palestine will be free. we've seen this film before]

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—HOW TO USE CANVA TO MAKE MOODBOARDS

I got a kind message asking how I make moodboards in Canva, so I wanted to do a little tutorial! Canva is a free graphic design app/website, and I use it for everything.

To start - open the app/page and use the search bar at the top to search for a template. I usually use: photo collage, scrapbook, aesthetic moodboard - all of these will pull up pre-made templates for you to use.

[I have a couple linked below that I’ve used and liked, or have bookmarked to try:]

one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight

Anything with a crown is for Canva Pro members - you used to be able to use the templates as a free member (just not the paid assets) but that changed recently. The linked templates above are all free ones that you can use right away.

PHOTOS:

Once you’re in the template, you can press the + in the bottom corner to bring up the menus. The Elements tab have items you can add in (more on that later) - for now you want to go to Uploads, and add the photos you want to use. I mostly get mine from Pinterest and Google Images.

[If you are writing an x reader fic and are looking for tips for creating an inclusive moodboard, there are some awesome resources here: one | two !]

After that, go back to your template and click on the different photo frames, and use the Replace button in the toolbar - it will let you replace the template photos with your own. Double tap to move and resize your image within the frame, (and there are also filters you can use if you want!)

When working on moodboards, I like to move things around. You can replace the frames they use by clicking on the item and then clicking the Trashcan. Then go back to the + menu, and then Elements, and scroll down to Frames. You can scroll through them all, but my fave keywords to use in the search bar is: polaroid, torn, and ripped.

Once they’re added, you can move them wherever you want. There’s a button on the toolbar that says Position, and you can shift the object forward/back between the items around it.

DETAILS:

Once you add your photos, then comes the details! You can change the background color and add/change the fonts (or upload your fave font to use!) Try out all the tools on the toolbar to see what you can do, there’s a lot of options.

I love love layering with my moodboard, so I will go back to the + / Elements tab, and then search for things to layer in. My fave searches for Graphics recently are: ripped paper, grunge patterns (to use in the background), star patterns, dried flowers, and dried leaves.

You can use the Position tool on them to fit them in-between or in front of your photos. I usually use them to hide harsh edges or in places that look a little empty.

I also like adding fabric texture to the backgrounds, to fill the space between the photo frames. There isn’t an easy way to do this - the best way I figured out is to find an image of the texture you want, and then to add a photo frame with a torn or jagged edge in the very back (and then use your new texture there). You can duplicate and move it, to cover the space (you can see some examples below - the beige flower pattern in the Din one, the black velvet for Alfred).

Here are some examples of the original templates, and then what my finished ones look like. You can see what I swapped out, moved, and added:

original image | my moodboard

EDITING:

Once I am happy with the design I download it, and then edit. I love this part - pop it into your fave editing app, and play around with the exposure/contrast/hues/sharpness. I will mess with the color balance & vibrancy as well - this can really take a moodboard I like, to one I love.

Here’s some gifs I made showing before /after editing - both are pretty before but I think the after has an oomph that I really appreciate.

[When you finish with one and want to use the same template, you can click Make a Copy, and it will duplicate it. I began with templates but everything I do now are copies of heavily/edited templates or ones I’ve made from scratch. But for starting off, I think a template is the way to go!]

And that’s it!! I would really suggest just opening it up and seeing what you can do. Not all of mine turn out great, but each time I think I get a better handle on all the different options and what my moodboard style is.

I really hope this helps! And feel free to tag me if you post any you make, I’d love to see them (or drop me an ask if you have any questions!) 💖💕

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im studying literature and my friend is studying law!!!!

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coffee date with my bestie who is a law student!!!

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third day

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second day of sophomore year 🍃